CHRIS CHRISTIE TO ANNOUNCE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL BID: SOURCES

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie plans on announcing a Republican bid for the 2024 presidency next week, sources familiar confirm to ABC News.

Christie will make his announcement at St. Anselm College on June 6 at 6:30 p.m. during a town hall event.

His bid will be shepherded by long-time aides Maria Comella and Mike DuHaime. The news comes a day after Christie allies launched a super PAC to support his candidacy.

The details of the campaign launch were first reported by Axios.

Christie, who also ran in 2016, joins an ever-expanding group of GOP hopefuls who must knock former President Donald Trump out of front-runner status to make real inroads with Republican voters. His soft pitch in the past several weeks -- as he's made the rounds on national media and visits to consequential primary states -- is that he might very well be the only Republican willing and able to bring that force.

MORE: Who is running for president in 2024 and who might run

"In American politics, if you want to beat somebody, you've got to go get them, and you got to make the case," Christie told a group of New England voters in April. "So what I'm saying tonight, I think, is the beginning of the case against Donald Trump. And that's the first task for Republican primary voters -- decide who we're going to nominate. And if we are willing to put up with that level of policy, and character failure, then we're going to get what we deserve."

Christie also claimed Trump is "afraid" to get on a debate stage "against people who are serious."

"To the extent that President Trump doesn't want to participate in them, people should wonder why," Christie told radio host Hugh Hewitt in early May. "And I think it's because he doesn't have a lot of serious answers for the problems that are facing the country right now. All he wants to do is go back and re-prosecute the 2020 election because his feelings are hurt. He's a child in that regard."

Trump, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, radio host Larry Elder and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson have formally announced their bids for the Republican nomination.

2023-05-31T14:27:03Z dg43tfdfdgfd